The World Ends with You: Final Cadenza
by Pennan Inque
Summary: When Joshua's existence is threatened by Minamoto's new plot to overthrow him as Composer, he brings Neku back to the UG. Neku must fight alongside a new partner in order to bring Minamoto down and save his friend. But things aren't as easily done as they are said.
1. Prologue

It was raining in Shibuya –a cold, uncomfortable rain that soaked through clothes and chilled foolish pedestrians to the very core. Umbrellas hung lamely from wrists, useless to protect their owners against the downpour. People scuttled this way and that, hurrying to the sheltering buildings and stores along CAT Street. The only store that wasn't a destination for the drenched was the WildKat Café. There was, however, an individual heading for the door.

Yoshiya Kiryu would have attracted an abnormal amount of attention had the streets of Shibuya not been sent into a flurry. His wavy, grey hair bounced as he walked, free from a single drop of water. His clothes too were dry, the blue button-up shirt and obsidian slacks as clean as the day they were pressed. Kiryu inspected his hand, admiring his handiwork as the raindrops evaporated before landing on his skin. He smirked, contemplating the chaos that would arise if he was spotted, and the real pandemonium that would ensue if he was ever seen in his true form. Now that would be quite a scene.

The bell above the door clanged as Kiryu entered WildKat and again when the door closed behind him. The store was all but empty, the only people inside were Kiryu himself and the café's owner, Sanae Hanekoma. Hanekoma had been drying mugs when the bell sounded. He looked up and the two locked gazes. Acknowledgement lit their faces.

"Well, well, well," Hanekoma smirked, setting down the mug in his hand and tossing his towel over his shoulder. "If it isn't the Composer himself. What brings you here today, Joshua?"

Kiryu didn't comment on the nickname. He had long since gotten used to being called Yoshua, or Joshua, as the English pronounced. The latter had struck a chord with Hanekoma, and he delighted in using it whenever possible. In the end, Kiryu grew attached to the name, and adopted it –especially when in his suppressed form. "You know exactly what I'm here for, Mr. H," Joshua said. He made his way to the counter and sat on a bar stool. He went straight to business. "Have you found him?"

"Yeah." Hanekoma poured a cup of coffee and slid it to Joshua. "He was lurking around in Udagawa."

"Status?" Joshua asked, taking a sip of the coffee.

"Recovering. He somehow managed to absorb his taboo energy and as a result, he's slowly returning to normal. The energy is healing him as he waits for the Game to start. No report yet on his power level. I've yet to see him in action."

"Take your best guess."

"He'll be strong," Hanekoma admitted. "The taboo energy is still within him, but it's healing his soul rather than exerting power, so he won't be as tough as before."

"He's still a threat," Joshua frowned. "Can we eliminate him early on?"

Hanekoma shook his head. "I've already had a stray noise sent to attack him, but there was no damage. He didn't even realize he'd been hit."

"A side effect to the taboo energy?"

"I believe so. It's given him near immunity to noise."

"Damn," Joshua cursed. He stared into the dark abyss of his coffee, the gears in his brain working overtime. "We'll have to up the ante. Sho Minamoto has to be erased as soon as possible."

"Agreed. It'd be disastrous if he became the Composer."

"Disastrous is a light term for the mangled heap of rubbish he'd make the UG... not to mention what would become of _me_. There's only two choices left." Joshua became frightfully serious. "Have you found any trace of the Music?"

"None so far," Mr. H said regretfully.

"Then we'll have to move on to Plan B. Minamoto can't be harmed by noise, but psychs should work just fine." Joshua's signature smirk stretched his lips. "It's time to bring in Neku Sakuraba."


	2. Day 1: Return to the UG

Neku Sakurba wandered the streets of the Scramble Crossing, his legs automatically taking him nowhere as he drowned out the voices of the noisy city with his headphones. Reaching for the MP3 player dangling from the lanyard around his neck, he turned up the volume. This was his way of dealing. With the world. With his problems.

Ever since the Reaper Games, Neku had been a different man. He had opened his world up little by little, letting in a few people at a time. The only problem, he discovered, was that once inside his world, people had the ability to damage it. It wasn't as if anyone had intended to chip holes into his life, they just didn't realize that their actions affected him. It was this ignorant self-indulgence that was causing Neku turmoil. It had gotten to the point where he needed to be alone in his world for a while. He needed time to think. Alone.

Things had been nice after Joshua had sent them all back to the real Shibuya. The RG was much more relaxing than the UG, with strangers rather than reapers, and puppies rather than noise. Needless to say, it took a while to get back into the swing of things (an example being Neku's aversion to anyone in a red hoodie for starters), but his friends were with him. Beat, Rhyme, and Shiki had been his pillar through the games, and now they were out of the games too.

After a lot of explanations that were ultimately chucked out the window, the four's reappearance was deemed a miracle and there was a week of celebrating with families before they were eventually reenrolled in school. Due to Rhyme's age, a mixed middle and high school was chosen so they could all be together. Shiki had been a little put out that she would not be at the same school as her friend Eri, but they agreed to get together once every two days, so she was appeased.

After all they had gone through together, the four were nearly inseparable. Whenever their schedule's allowed, they would meet up and simply enjoy each other's company. They would study together and go bowling and eat pizza and every Friday, they would visit Mr. H at WildKat and reminisce. The Reapers' Games had been a life-changing, or rather life-giving, time, and while they may not have had the best memories of the Games, it was what had gotten them together, and what made them who they were.

But as was the story with all tightly-knit groups, relationships began to form. Neku's feelings for Shiki had grown since the Games and he had thought for sure that since she knew she had been his entry fee for Week 2, she must have known of his feelings. But it wasn't their relationship that had bloomed, but her and Beat's. Once he realized he was failing Home Economics, Beat had asked Shiki is she could tutor him and she, being the kind soul that she was, agreed happily. Apparently the hours they spent sewing and cooking together were not solely for learning purposes, for not a week later, they announced that they were dating. Not going out, mind you, but dating was still a step in their relationship that Neku and Shiki had certainly not taken, and it was eating the orange-haired boy alive.

He supposed it was the typical "opposites attract" thing or perhaps it was the "deadbeat and good-girl" storyline that had driven Shiki to Beat. Either way, she was clearly not interested in a romantic relationship with him. Perhaps he was too moody. Or maybe he just wasn't enough of a project for her. He'd heard that women liked to change troubled men, that it was an appealing, and almost endearing experience. It made sense. Beat was pretty troubled.

Neku sighed. Maybe he needed to be upfront with Shiki. Maybe if he told her how he felt, she'd realize she liked him back. But there was a niggling part in the back of his mind that scolded him. Friends didn't force friends between a rock and a hard place. She was with Beat. It wouldn't be fair to make her choose between the man she was dating and him. Besides, she and Beat were pretty cute together. Like beauty and the beast.

Suddenly Neku's foot caught on something and he tripped, tumbling to the ground. He grunted as he hit the pavement but hauled himself up. His music had stopped, the player around his neck either paused, or busted form the fall. He hissed as his palms and knees stung, scratched raw and red from the impact. Just perfect. He'd add that to the list of things going wrong. Remembering that he had a napkin in his pocket from lunch at one of the Sunshine burger joints, he fished around for it to soak up the blood that bloomed from his cuts.

His fingers brushed across something in his pocket and the world exploded into brouhaha. Conversations, arguments, and personal thoughts came swarming into his brain like a flash flood. It was like he had hundreds of people inside his head, like he was at an angry mob and the cocktail party effect was null in void. He was suddenly God, hearing everyone's voice at once.

Neku snapped his hand out of his pocket and the thoughts stopped. All he could hear was the muted chatter from the other side of his headphones.

A cold sweat beaded on Neku's brow and dampened his palms. That hadn't happened. He was just stressed or tired or… or delusional. Maybe he'd finally fallen off the bandwagon of sanity. Any excuse was better than reality.

He refused to believe that it was happening. There had only been one instance where voices had clouded his head, one little device that let him read minds. His pocket burned, but Neku was scared. He didn't want to go back. He could go back. He couldn't _be_ back.

His fingers itched towards his hip and slipped into the pocket of his shorts. He had to be sure, one hundred percent certain that it was just his imagination. But the tips of his fingers touched a cold, smooth surface and his breath caught. The voices returned, their thoughts clattering and Neku welt like weeping. He grasped the object in his hand and pulled it out of his pocket. Neku's legs almost gave out. It was a player pin.

"No," he muttered, on the brink of tears. "It can't be…"

"I'm afraid it is, Neku."

Turning on his heel, fists ready to fly defensively, Neku came face to face with his old partner. He dropped his guard in surprise. "Joshua?"

"Greetings," Joshua smiled. He looked the same as he did in the Game but slightly haughtier, if that was even possible. His hands were in his pockets and that smirk told Neku something conniving was going on in that grey-haired head of his.

Sudden anger welled inside Neku at the sight of the Composer. His death was always a touchy point with him, especially since his killer had been a friend. Joshua had murdered him just to make him his proxy. He'd dragged him into all the mess with Kitaniji and forced him to place in the Reapers' Games. Neku took a deep breath and tried to calm his emotions. While he had been his killer, he was also his partner. Though Joshua had kept things from him, in the end, he made things right. He even brought Rhyme back to life. Neku forced himself to be composed. He owed Joshua that much at least. Besides, this was the first time he had seen Joshua since he had come back to life and he had a whole list of questions. Starting with, "What's going on here?"

"You know exactly what's going on, Neku," Joshua said candidly. "You're in the UG. You're a player."

Anger bubbled in Neku's stomach. He tried to force it down, but it boiled as he spoke. "Why? Did you kill me again so I can be your freaking _proxy _for a few more weeks? You battling it out with your Conductor again?"

"Of course not," Joshua said, his nose so high, if it rained, he'd drown. "After Kitaniji, I've been functioning without a Conductor. I found it belittling to need one anyway. I'm perfectly capable of managing the Games on my own. As for why you're here, I needed your assistance."

"I'm not going to be your damned proxy, Joshua!" Neku snarled, enraged. "You killed me for no reason!"

Joshua gestured to his ex-partner's hands and knees. "You're bleeding, Neku."

"Yeah, I'm bleeding!" Neku growled. "I scraped myself falling into your stupid Underground!"

"Neku," Joshua said patiently. "You're _bleeding_."

Neku folded his arms. "So what? It's just a little. I'm not going to cry or anything."

Joshua sighed. He pressed on his temple like incomprehension gave him a headache. "Let's try it this way: Neku, do you know what blood does?"

Taken aback, Neku raised an eyebrow in uncertainty. What did this have to do with anything? "Doesn't it fight off disease?"

"That's white blood cells. Do you know what red blood cells do?"

Thinking back to biology class, Neku tried to remember. "Don't they bring stuff through the body? Like vitamins or nutrients or something?"

"Close. Red blood cells bring oxygen through the body. Now tell me, Neku, do the dead need oxygen?"

"No…" Neku said. "So, I'm not dead?"

Joshua smiled. "No, you're not."

"But I'm a player," Neku said, confused. "You just said I was a player!"

"Wasn't I a player during our week in the Reapers' Games?" Joshua pointed out. "You can still be alive and be in the Games. It just isn't exactly by the rules. And since I'm the Composer, I'm free to bend the rules to my liking."

"Okay, so I'm alive and I'm in the Reapers' Games." Neku summarized. "That still doesn't explain why you brought me here in the first place."

"Would you like the long version or the short version?"

"That depends," Neku said warily. "How much time do I have before the first mission?"

"As much time as I give you," Joshua said, flaunting his cell phone arrogantly.

"Long version, then," Neku said. "If you want my help, you're going to tell me every little detail of your plan this time."

"Fair enough," Joshua smirked. "Let's head to CAT Street. I'll tell you about it over coffee."

"_Now_, Joshua."

"Fine. But let's at least sit down. This may take a while."

Neku followed Joshua to a bench and sat down. "Alright. Spill it."

Joshua looked him straight in the eye and spoke with the grimness of the apocalypse. "Sho Minamoto is back."

Neku's jaw fell open. "What?! That impossible! Beat and I found him dead. He was buried under a car and a vending machine for crying out loud!"

"Yes, not my most elegant work," Joshua commented. "But the very fact that you saw him lying there is proof that he didn't die. When anyone in the UG is killed, their existence is erased. Not just their lives, but their bodies as well. You know, you've seen it happen."

"Yeah," Neku said sadly, remembering all those he saw erased in front of his very eyes. "But what's the problem? You beat Minamoto before. Can't you do it again?"

"Under normal circumstances, yes. However there are a few factors that have changed."

"Such as?"

Joshua paused. "Do you know much about the roles of the Underground, Neku?"

The orange-haired boy groaned internally. He hated it when people answered his question with a question. "Not really. I know the Composer makes the rules and the Conductor enforces them. The Reapers are like the worker bees that do all the leg work. Right?"

"For the most part," Joshua smirked. "You've got the bare minimum. But there's one more important position you forgot. The Music."

Neku frowned. "The Music? I've never heard of it."

"That's because there hasn't been one when you've been playing. When I took over as Composer, I felt I didn't need my Music. He's still out there somewhere."

"But I don't understand," Neku said. "What _is_ the Music?"

"The Music holds half of the Composer's power. They work as a team. When someone defeats the Composer, he must also defeat the Music. Typically, when the Composer and Music are defeated, their power is transferred to the conqueror and their partner. However, if someone manages to defeat the two by his or herself, they become Conductor and the previous Music chooses a successor. This is what happened in my case."

"And you never went to look for your Music?" Neku asked, astounded.

Joshua shrugged. "I figured I was powerful enough on my own. I didn't need anyone else's help."

"But what does this have to do with Minamoto."

Joshua crossed his legs and folded his arms as he watched the people from the RG walk by. "Rumor has it that Minamoto has uncovered the identity of the Music. He plans to find him and use him in order to defeat me so he can become Shibuya's new Composer."

"But why don't you just fight him? One attack from you and he'd be finished."

"That brings us to factor number two. Apparently, Minamoto has absorbed his taboo energy."

"Okay… what does that do?"

"It heals him from his dead, near-death experience as well as provides him with an annoying resistance to noise and attacks linked to noise energy. My power won't be strong enough to erase him."

"So you and the Reapers are powerless against him?" Neku gaped, aghast.

"Essentially. Theoretically, he won't be strong enough to attack me as he is, however. I'm still stronger than him. But if he finds the Music, he'll be able to defeat me easily… That's where you come in."

"Huh? Me?"

"Players don't use noise energy of any kind. They use melee strikes and psychs. As far as me and Hanekoma can tell, the taboo energy doesn't protect him from either psychical attacks psychomancy."

"But why me? Can't someone else do it?"

"There's a slim possibility that someone in the Games has the power to take down Minamoto, but it isn't assured. We need someone we can trust, someone who we know is skilled with psychs, someone who can defeat Minamoto."

"No pressure or anything…"

Joshua stood. "You don't have to go through this alone, Neku. Find a partner and stay alive. Mr. H will be around to help you out. And who knows, maybe I'll break a few rules and give you some advice now and then."

"Thanks," Neku smiled. Joshua was rough around the edges, but he could be a friend when it counted. He guessed he could help him out this once –even if it did mean competing in the Reapers' Games again. A thought crossed him mind and his smile faded. "But wait. What's my entrance fee?"

"Please, Neku." Joshua smirked. "You're friends with the Composer. I got you here alive. You think I can't waive your entry fee?"

Neku folded his arms and tried to look stern despite the grin on his face. "Don't you think you're breaking too many rules?"

"Oh, don't worry, Neku. I won't break too many. After all, I can't make things too easy for you. It wouldn't be as fun."

"Speak for yourself."

"You'll receive your first mission in twenty seconds," Joshua said as he turned and walked away, waving over his shoulder. "Good luck!"

Neku watches his back as he left, feeling an odd combination of suspicion and camaraderie that he had recently attributed to Joshua's presence. They were friends for certain (no one could go through what they had without coming out as such), but Neku could never fully trust Joshua. He was the Composer. It was his job to make things up.

Neku's phone went off just as Joshua had said it would. The orange-haired boy pulled the device from his pocket and flipped it open, reading the text message. _"Eliminate the pest of Cadoi. You have 120 minutes."_ Two hours? Easy peasy. There was no way Neku was getting erased today… but…

Jumping to his feet, Neku rushed after Joshua, dodging through the crossing people of Shibuya accidentally. "Joshua! Wait a second! What happens if I get erased here?" By the time Neku remembered he was impalpable in the UG, it was too late. Joshua was gone.


End file.
